Jeffrey Veidlinger

In Moishe Nadir’s 1928 Yiddish play, “Messiah in America,” theater producer Menachem Yosef and his assistant, Jack “the Bluffer,” concoct a scheme to present the messiah onstage, dressing up a bearded Jewish immigrant to play the part. Their success in attracting audiences prompts a rival producer to introduce a second messiah — this time, a young English-speaking variant who arrives on a motorcycle. After the competing producers hold a competition to determine which one is the true messiah, they conclude that the competition should take place in the boxing ring. When the match ends with the death of the younger messiah, the producers flee, with their profits, to Florida.